re: Dell Demps

Yes and no. On the one hand the move cleared the cap space that lead to Lopez. Lopez for Jack is a solid move. On the other hand this was yet another good will gesture and I'm not sure how much that actually gets you. I'm assuming all the minutes Henry is getting right now is Monty and Demps letting him audition for his next job on another team. All the marginal players in the league that can't get good offers will be dying to be Pelicans. Not a bad thing but is it worth sacrificing trade assets and flexibility?

The flip side of the good will coin is Morey in Houston who supposedly has a bad rep with agents for things like never offering extensions. That lack of good will didn't seem to stop him from building a solid young core from the supposed NBA dead zone of the playoff bubble.

Why should they get any blame? Look at the circumstances. We knew we'd suck. Gordon would have to play lights out all season for us to have any shot at competing for a playoff spot. This season went like many of us expected. When you have Aminu as you're starting SF, you're gonna suck. Plain and simple. Can you at least try being patient until we are able to get some real talent around us? If we dont improve drastically next year, I will be blaming both Monty and Dell because we have the cap space to get talent, and Monty will have the talent to run a real defense and hopefully a better offense. If Monty and Dell both do their jobs, we should be in the playoffs next year.

quote: For the same money we are playing for Anderson, we could have kept the other 3.

The other three make a combined $3m more than Ryno, and Ryno is the best player of the lot. And Jack had nothing to do with Ryno, he was dealt after Anderson was on the team so as to free up space to take on Lopez.

quote:3. Not move Ariza and Okafor in a salary dump.

No one even thought what Demps pulled off was possible. It was THAT good of a move.

quote:3. Not move Ariza and Okafor in a salary dump. I didn't like either player, but they both play solid defense. Plus they would have been more attractive this season for other teams in a salary dump.

Meh. No one knows what Houston was offering. If it was Martin/Toronto's first/PatPat or the first that became Lamb, then that was probably worth getting rid of the Gordon headache. At this point, less probably is worth it for most people.

quote:Yea, because lord knows this team has just been killing it at back up combo guard this year

They wanted to see what Rivers could do. He didn't work out, but he was clearly improving later in the season. You don't give up an opportunity to develop a guard you expect to be a major part of your future for a solid but unspectacular 29 year old, especially when you're 2 or 3 years away from making noise in the playoffs.

quote:Cs almost universally have a higher PER because they shoot better %s, grab more boards, and have less TOs.

That's why I posted their rank compared to players of the same position. That big men typically have higher PER's has no bearing on Jack having 30 PGs ahead of him and Lopez having 16 centers ahead of him.

This will be the first offseason, the team won't be tied to any truly bad contracts. Demps will have flexibility and cap space to mold the roster. What he did last season to create cap flexibility was nothing short of amazing. Let's see how he does without any handicaps. We've yet to see what Demps is really capable of. With nothing to hold him back for the first time since he was hired, it'll be interesting to see what he does.

quote:``No one has really addressed me about that, but I know that is a possibility,’’ said Smith, who is the only current player on the Hornets’ roster that has played significant time at center. `` I know I would definitely have to work on my body because I know I am an undersized center in the NBA.’’